Propylene oxide is an important industrial chemical intermediate. Propylene oxide can be produced by direct epoxidation of propylene with oxygen and hydrogen in a solvent in the presence of a catalyst (U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,138,535 and 5,973,171). U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,171 additionally teaches recovering methanol solvent from the reaction mixture and recycling the recovered solvent to the epoxidation reaction.